EDRM Lowers the Threshold for Participation

Migrated from eDJGroupInc.com. Author: Greg Buckles. Published: 2010-08-30 16:31:23  With so many professionals newly drafted into the complex, dynamic eDiscovery world, there is an ever-increasing demand for educational resources (OLP, ALSP), conferences (ILTA, ARMA, LTNY, Georgetown Institute), associations and materials from authoritative bodies such as The Sedona Conference and the Electronic Discovery Reference Model. Many years ago, George Socha and Tom Gelbmann (EDRM founders) began encouraging the participation of independent, corporate and law firm professionals with alternative membership options. I am happy to report that non-providers make up over half of the 2010 Metrics project when I stepped down as the project co-lead. All of this leads up to this week’s announced shift to an ‘EDRM Anniversary Membership Model’ for single or all project participation. The membership cost for an individual is just $200/year and $1,000/year for organizations with 10 or fewer employees. In consideration of the 2008-9 economic downturn and the consolidation in the eDiscovery market, EDRM will continue to waive the individual membership fees for anyone who has lost their job recently.I am not encouraging you to pay membership fees to EDRM or The Sedona Conference merely to pad your resume. We need your active participation and vocal perspective in every possible venue to continue our slow maturation from scattered, isolated practitioners to a connected community with recognized standards and certifications. We are not there yet. You do not need 10-20 years of perspective to make a valuable contribution.

So what does EDRM project participation really entail? There are two yearly meetings in St. Paul, the Kick-Off in May and the Mid-Year in October. Attendance is not required, but we do seem to get the most work done at these gatherings. Most of the projects have sub-groups with bi-weekly or monthly calls to go over progress and draft materials. The eight active EDRM projects are consensus driven and peer-reviewed. While The Sedona Conference working groups focus on legal principals and commentaries, EDRM projects try to get into the practical workflow, means and methods of discovery. I have always seen the two organizations as synergistically defining the goals and practices of our evolving discipline. Realize that we need everyone to get involved, so pick the organization(s) of your choice and become a member.